What Next, We Queer People Ask. What Road Do We Take?

A Prism & Pen writers prompt

I’m not sure how to start this writing prompt, but I think I’ll share that as an American, I had a perfectly miserable Fourth of July, not just because of a heatwave, pounding rain and constant lightning, or because I was worried sick that my cat was caught out in it somewhere.

Sitting out on the porch, hoping she’d make it home, my thoughts drifted back to America’s 200th birthday. I was just a kid, but I found it all so thrilling. Everyone I knew, of whatever political persuasion, seemed filled with optimism.

And why not? Watergate had just ended, a crook of a president forced out of office. The national agony of Vietnam was over too. Never again would our family Christmas be marred by my grandmother’s tears as one of her sons phoned in from a brutal war zone, his tinny voice barely hiding his fear.

This year, another crook of a president enriches himself as the average American grows more and more poor, as the marginalized suffer the most, as he and his fanboys savagely attack queer people like me.

By the time my cat finally ran home, soaking wet, Trump had waited out his own lightning storm to deliver a vindictive paean to his hubris and cruelty, to the cruelty of the political party he has made his own.

What Next, We Queer People Ask. What Road Do We Take?

Can we find optimism again? It’s not just the U.S., though constant anti-queer headlines here are overwhelming. It’s everywhere.

Gay tourists barred from entering Turkey on the grounds of “morality.” Gay people being rounded up and imprisoned in Niger, Senegal, Ghana, Malaysia, Russia, and elsewhere. In the U.K., a judge just ruled that trans prisoners must, as a matter of law, be housed according to their birth sex, despite the fact that trans women will certainly be assaulted and raped in consequence.

That’s just the latest cruel U.K. assault on trans people, mirroring Trump policies. Like in many parts of the U.S., trans folks in the U.K. can’t even use public restrooms without fear!

In the U.K., no mainstream political party stands for the rights of queer people. Labour and the Conservative Party have thrown us to the wolves, while Reform waits in the wings to seize power and make things much worse.

In the U.S., the Democratic Party is trying to hold on, but ominous signs point to a serious weakening of support. Even IF the Democrats take Congress in November, can they (or do they even want) to reverse the cruel, regressive nature of today’s politics?

When I was a kid thrilled by the Bicentennial, I wondered where I’d be and how I’d feel on America’s 250th. I trusted I’d be fine, that my nation would continue to become a better place to live for everyone. But even though my cat came home and let me dry her off, I don’t feel that anymore.

What Next, We Queer People Ask. What Road Do We Take?

I’m sorry if I sound defeatist. I don’t feel defeated; I just feel rudderless. I spent most of my life believing in what turned out to be a fantasy of inevitable progress, the idea that most people could and would march toward kindness and acceptance, away from stigmatization and overt cruelty.

The Trump years, especially his second term, have seriously fucked with my belief that people are basically good and decent.

So, I’m asking all of you now, what are YOUR ideas for what’s next? How do we make progress when regression seems the order of the day? When people seem to be turning more and more toward cruelty? Where do we go from here?

Maybe I have some ideas, but I want to hear YOUR stories first, before I write anything.

What road do we take now?

You tell your stories, we’ll help you share them!

We’re looking for first-person narratives, essays by experts, tales from the mental-health trenches, impassioned pleas from those who care, and everything in between.

As always, we welcome essays, poems, short fiction, memoir, or history. We love film, TV, literature and other art reviews too.

If you’ve not yet written for P&P, here are our submission guidelines:

[embed]New Prism & Pen Submission Guidelines Last updated August 2, 2025medium.com

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